
First solo tent camping trip - davy crockett national forest, tx
Did this back in march but only just now getting around to posting it! Lovely solo camping trip at an established (but nicely spread out) campground by a lake. I'm so proud of myself! I had done car camping solo once before and this was my first solo tent camping. it was rly cool cause i grew up camping on the west coast, but it is a much less common activity where i live now (in southeast TX)
One small hiccup was I was using a 3 person tent because that's what i already owned, and it really wasn't meant to be set up by 1 person. I struggled for like 20+ minutes, and eventually a dude driving by offered to help, and we got it set up and he was very kind and respectful and then left. I didn't mention i was solo of course. But far more often then not while solo travelling, i have had people, including plenty of men, stick their necks out and look out for me. So it was a nice reminder that not everyone is evil lmao.
Next time i will prob get a solo popup tent.
Helpful things I did to get through the heebie jeebies at night were:
-getting myself really tired from a hike during the day
-nice big delicious meal at night
-during the day i sat still in the forest with my eyes closed for 5 minutes and listened to all the crazy animal sounds and how many things made creaks and cracks
-allowed myself to listen to a podcast in one earbud to help me fall asleep. One day i will graduate to falling asleep with just the sounds of nature lol, but not right now.